Power Behind the Name
by Shikamaru-Nara2
Summary: Before the sky was stained black and riddled with Dark Lightning. Before we tried to grasp the power of metal as we gazed at the world with Iron Eyes there was always a man who fought for us silently. Few believed in him. Fewer were lucky to meet him.


Power Behind the Name

In the year 2050 the concept of war changed. It was replaced with a battle simulator that would simulate a war between nations; the simulator was known as 'Net-Sphere'. This removed the constant bloodshed that war was often associated with. This new method was even supported by the world's major religious organizations as a way to ensure peace without the need for senseless violence. However, this 'peace' was short lived. Only four years after the systems introduction the nation of China disputed its loss to a minor nation. Suddenly the results of many of the Net-Sphere results were disputed until finally the project was disbanded. It would seem that the days of Net-Sphere had gone just as soon as they had come.

However, all would not be as it was intended. In the year 2056 a small elite group of hackers were able to find the source codes for Net-Sphere. Will a little editing of the original programs script Net-Sphere was brought to life once again; but this time it was not a tool used by the government to facilitate war. This time the world of Net-Sphere was made into a playground for the public where they can take part in virtual battles. Soon Net-Sphere servers were populating the net; Net-Sphere battles were the 'hot new thing'. Society had grew to hunger for these battles where they could fight to their hearts content while not putting anyone into any 'real' harm. However this euphoric bliss would be short-lived. A few months after the community released version of Net-Sphere was released the government was able to shut down all of the servers and prosecuted those who had opened servers to the best of their power. The group of hackers who were originally to blame for Net-Spere's public release were never found. They would only be talked about as fabled legends.

Yet we are only approaching the beginning of what brings us to our tale today. Over the next few years an opportunistic company realized the potential that Net-Sphere had to offer. They bought the rights to Net-Sphere and with a few minor changes turned it into an official e-sport, one of the first of its kind. Leagues were formed by varying nations as the sport became popularized and it soon made its way to be the most watched sport in the history of the world. The game was still released to the public at local arcades or for their own personal home use so that they could experience the same entertainment as the professionals. This sport was called the "Stylish Esper Shooting Sports League," or simple S4 League.

The year is now 2063, over thirteen years since the Net-Sphere's birth.

"Hey, Ivan! Wake up already!" A voice shrieked rupturing a boy from his sleeping state.

With an incoherent growl the boy was roused from his state of weary. He stretched his arms and let out a small yawn. "Hey what's up guys?" The known as Ivan said to a male and female who stood around his desk.

"Don't 'what's up guys' us!" A girl growled angrily as she stamped her foot. "Do you know how hard it was to cover your snoring in class?"

"Yeah bro, you need to lay off the late night games." A boy with long brown hair said as he shook his head.

"Come on don't give me that Richter, I get that enough from Misha here." Ivan gestured to the girl with jet-black hair drawn back into a ponytail. "You know I'm trying to get my rank up."

"You should be catching up on you sleep!" Misha said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"See what I mean?" Ivan gave a small scowl.

"You know she's only fooling. Misha's really a big softie." Richter said with a laugh as he poked her gently in the side only to receive a death glare in return. "Anyway we were thinking of heading to the arcade now that school is over. See if we can beat the mid-day rush."

"I don't know." Ivan gave a small frown. "I need to catch up on my classwork and sleep. Sorry I might have to sit this time out."

"Wow. That really mature of you." There was a hint of surprise in Misha's voice.

"You're joking aren't you?" Richter replied, his voice rather monotone.

Ivan let out a small chuckle. "Richter you know me so well."

"Hey! You should do your work!" Misha protested.

Ivan let heaved a sigh as he shrugged. "My work will always be there when I go home. What's important now is showing off my S4! Let's go guys!"

Misha heaved a sigh "You're going to regret doing that."

Little did Misha know that her words would soon to be true. Today would change their views of S4 dramatically. Possibly for the better, possibly for the worse.

"I can't believe we let you talk us out of making you go home to do your work." Richter said with a sigh as they now stood in the front of the long line of people wanting to get into the S4 arcade.

"Yeah. Your mom is going to kill you if you get ANOTHER failing grade on your test." Misha chimed in.

"Hey! Don't blame me! You both wanted to come here as much as I did!" Ivan protested. "No shut up we're going in now."

An arcade employee motioned them inside; three more machines had just opened up. They made their way over to the machines. They were designed as rather comfortable chairs outfitted with headgear designed to read your brainwaves so that they could play without moving even a finger and a full body scanner so that it could appropriately design a character fitting your natural human abilities.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm so psyched for today."

"Whatever you say man, just don't hold us back Mr. Rookie." Richter said with a small chuckle.

"Hey its SUPER ROOKIE now, you got that?" Ivan retorted. He was the lowest ranking of most of his friends. He'd been having terrible luck with matches lately and he couldn't seem to win. If only he had better equipment, maybe, just maybe he'd be able to catch up with everyone.

"And last time I checked I just broke into the pro circuit!" Superiority laced Richter's voice. There was always an underlying rivalry between Ivan and him. Ivan could never really understand why though.

However both of the boys were silenced when the heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat. "So are we gonna play or not. Remember both of you are holding me back." Misha said with a smug grin on her face. She had entered the S1 ranking a while back and was making a name for herself. Rumor has is that she even had a few sponsors looking at her.

"Yes ma'am" The two boys said in unison. Misha usually was their ticket to victory so it was kind of good idea not to get on her bad sad.

"Good. Now gear up!"

With a sigh both men sat in their respective chairs and applied the necessary head gear to enter the game. The plugged in their S4 ID into the machine and soon they could feel their consciousness slipping away. They felt their minds float away from their physical bodies and into the bodies of their esper characters. They had arrived in the Net-Sphere.

"Busy as usual." Misha's let out a sigh. Rather it was more appropriate to say it was her character DeathLotus. She wore the back street girl open top with a stripped top underneath combo with her mechanic girl jeans with the opposing pant leg length. Each part of her characters items were high-end, most likely the result of a fan or even a sponsors presenting her with gifts to earn her favor.

"You say that as if you expect to find no one to be on one day." Richter laughed. He wore the rebellious jacket and pants combo where half of his shirt hung at his side. The username TheForbidden one hovered above his characters model.

"Can we stop talking about the people around us and get to the game already!" Ivan said sounding rather annoyed. He wore the sprite jacket top and the frock armor pants. He felt that the combo gave him a somewhat tough feel. Coupled with his username GrimAngelKuro gave off an almost ominous feel to his character. "Plus people are staring."

Ivan was right. A lot of player's eyes had turned their way and had started to whisper about their band of merry men.

"Fine" Misha let out a sigh. Although she enjoyed it the fame was getting to her. She found herself often bombarded with friend or combii request. "Anyone need a stop by the shop before we head out. With a united no from everyone else they moved out prepared for battle.

"What the hell are you doing? Keep your head down!" Misha shouted as her character tackled Ivan's character just narrowly pushing him out of the way of enemy character's rail gun. "You idiot! It's because of you that we're falling behind!"

They were locked in a fearsome 3v3 death match on the highway. Both teams were on the final stretch for victory. Any mistake made by either team would lead to their downfall.

"I totally had that guy in my sights! You ruined a perfect shot for me!" Ivan retorted.

"For him you mean!" Misha let out an exasperated sigh. "Just stay here and cover me Richter. Got it?"

Ivan let out a groan. "Got it."

"Fine we'll try to save one for you okay?" Misha let out a defeated sigh. Sure she wanted to win but she wanted Ivan to enjoy the game too. Sure he had made a few…okay SEVERAL mistakes thought out the game but he was still doing relatively okay. She could see he was improving. "Richter, I'll take the one on the right, while you wear down the one on the right. Okay?"

"Understood." Richter gave a simple nod. He knew that following Misha's orders would often lead them to victory. Aside from the Richter usually followed Misha's directions even outside of the League.

"Okay let's go!" Misha announced as her character death lotus rounded around a bus on the highway. "Ivan, cover us!"

"On it!" Ivan shouted as he stood poised behind Misha his semi-rifle raised. He began firing as Misha pushed her way forward her sub machine firing round after round.

Noticing the advancing threat the enemy team drew their weapons, turning their attention toward Misha and began to fire.

"Shield up!" Misha exclaimed as she activated her skill and a translucent shield appeared in front of her and Ivan's characters protecting them from damage as they continued their forward assault. "Go Richter!"

Richter sprang into action while the enemy team was distracted by the initial assault. He sprinted with his hand gun at the ready for the closest enemy. Would he use it to take out the enemy? No. He only needed it for the slight agility boost it provided thanks to its light weight. As he neared his target he swapped his hand gun out for a plasma sword. He activated his skill, one that ensnared his opponent in chains preventing their escape. "You're done!" With a swift dash Richter's character crashed into his target at full for before performing a 360 degree that sent the enemy flying before their character was reduced to simple code. "That's one."

"That's two!" Misha quickly followed taking out her target that couldn't stand up against her and Ivan's combined assault.

"And you're three!" Ivan shouted as his character sprouted wings and momentarily took to the sky before his wings faded away. The semi-rifle he once wielded had been replaced with a sword and shield that resembled a knuckle. With a might roar he slammed his fist into the enemy, a giant blue energy erupted upon impact blasting the enemy careening into a vehicle on the highway. "That's the game!"

"Don't let it go to your head." Richter scoffed.

"Yeah, you almost cost us the match you know." Misha said as she wagged a finger.

Ivan groaned. "I'm sorry. It's just that I get so into it. The thrill of battle and the chance to pull of tricks I've never done before. I just can't resist." Ivan wore a huge grin on his face as he spoke. Even with those words he couldn't fully express his love for S4.

Misha let out a small girlish giggle. She couldn't stay mad at him. "Fine. I guess if you're having fun then that's all that matters."

Richter groaned. "You're too soft on him."

"Well I can't constantly criticize him! Do you really think I'm that terrible?"

"That's not what I'm trying to say!"

"Hey!" Ivan suddenly shouted. "I don't mean to interrupt you little lovers spat but…why haven't we left the highway yet."

It suddenly dawned on them. They weren't having their after game banter in the lobby. They were still on the highway! They match had to be over, the enemy team would have found and defeated them by now! Something had to be wrong.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

A blaring alarm sounded as the word 'warning' filled the air. Something was definitely wrong. "This is the system administrators! An error has occurred. Please log-out now. We repeat. An error has occurred. Log-out now!"

Although automated there was still a sense of urgency in the voice. Just what had to happen for the demanding of all players to drop out of the server? Something terrible had happened. Something dangerous was coming.

"Sweet! I wonder what it could be?" Ivan spoke up. "You think the game is going to undergo so unscheduled maintenance? I hope they implement a new mode or weapons."

"You idiot! This is no time to joke around! We shouldn't stick around!" Misha argued. There was a hint of nervousness in her normally steady voice.

"She's right. Something like this has never happened before." Richter agreed with Misha. He could feel that something about this situation was wrong.

Ivan groaned. "Fine. Losers, always want to spoil my fun." There was a moment of silence before Ivan spoke again. "Guys…" there was something terrifying in his voice. It wasn't that he was trying to scare the others but the way his voice shook sent chills down their spine. "I can't log out."

Those words were the only words he needed to say to cause hysteria within the other two. They made the attempt to log out as well only to fail just as Ivan did.

"This can't be happening!" Misha repeated the words over and over again like a mantra as she sank to her knees.

"Forget this happening! What about our bodies? If we can't log out then our minds can't return to our bodies!" Richter shouted. He was angry. Not because he was upset but because he couldn't comprehend what was going on. What was happening to them?

"Guys?" Ivan spoke again. His voice still shaky.

"Shut up Ivan!" They both said in unison.

"Sorry, I know things are bad but…" Ivan's voice momentarily died off. "It's getting worse. Look." He swallowed hard as he pointed off into the distance.

Something was coming this way. Far off in the distance, outside of the battle area for the highway something was moving. A lot of something. There was an ominous sea of black figures slowly advancing on the trio. Every member of the army was dressed exactly the same; black from head to toe and a helmet that masked their entire face, if they had a face.

"W…what the hell are those?" Richter spoke, his voice shaking.

"Wow do you think it's some kind of new event?" Ivan spoke weakly.

"I don't know…" Misha tried to put on a brave front but her voice gave her away. Even with all of her S4 skills she still had fear in her. "But we should be fine right. I mean there is a barrier between us, right?"

Wrong! The army of black figures continued to move forward. They headed directly for the barrier. They movements did not slow but continued forward with their almost robotic like rhythmic marching. As they neared the barrier there was an ear piercing crash. The barrier had shattered. The just barely visibly wall that had withstood countless attacks from many a battles had effortlessly fallen in a blink of an eye.

"Run." Was all Misha could say. Soon the trio was leaping and bounding over the vehicles that littered the highway as they tried to put distance. Unlike the black figures the barrier appeared impassable to them. They were trapped.

"What are we going to do?" Ivan's voice was filled with worry, his initial excitement over the turn of the events now completely gone. He had become aware of just what kind of danger they were in. A moment of silence passed among them as they tried to think of ways to escape, all the while the army of figured approached.

"…The two of you, cover me." Misha finally spoke, her voice extremely cold.

"What the hell is going through your head?" Richter shouted. He was livid. They were facing an unknown threat and here she was volunteering herself for danger. "We can't let you do that."

"Richter's right! We have no idea what those things are capable of!" Ivan chimed in. "That's insane! It's suicide!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Misha stamped her foot. "But we have to do something or we're just sitting ducks."

"I can't let you do that!" Richter shouted. You could hear the anger in his voice.

"I'd like to see you stop me." With those final words Misha moved forward, sub machine guns drawn. Letting out a roaring battle cry she fired her guns as she moved toward the advancing threat with a series of graceful flips and jumps.

Ricther swore under his breath but he steadily advanced forward, with his handgun as he fired round after round. Ivan hung towards the back with his semi-rifle drawn; he zoomed in on the crowd and with careful aim took the most precise shots to wear the enemy down.

Misha's character neared the closest of the strange enemies. It was time to deliver a finishing blow. She leapt high into the air as she changed her weapons to a mighty back before bringing it down with thundering force. A small smirk appeared on her face as she drove the figure into the concrete below. "How'd you like that punk?"

But her smugness would be short lived.

"W-what?" Misha's voice had lost all the bravado from when she decided to initiate the attack.

The black figure placed its hands to its side and pushed its self upward. Their attacks hadn't even fazed them. Now it was their turn to fight. With a flash of light a black plasma sword appeared with the shadowy figured hand. With a quick spin it slammed its sword into Misha sending her character reeling backwards!

Her character flew through the air, skidding across the pavement only to come to a halt when it collided with a vehicle. "Ouch…"Misha groaned. Wait. Ouch? Had that hurt? It did. That attack had hurt her. Not death lotus but Misha. It seemed that along with being locked within the game they would also be privileged to experience the pain their characters did as well.

Then she heard the most terrifying sound in her life; the dreaded clicking, the clicking of magazines locking into place one by one. Every black figure brandished their own weapon and pointed them all towards Misha. She needed to move. Sensing the sudden real danger she was in Misha sprung to her fear. She raised her barrier as she flew through the air. However her defense finally gave way as she took a bullet to the side. Misha hit the pavement, hard.

"Misha!" Ivan and Richter cried in unison. The rushed forward recklessly with their guns as they wildly fired.

"What are you doing?" Misha cried out. "Run!"

It was obvious to them that their attacks were in vain but they didn't care. They were trying to protect her. They couldn't let their friend fall. Not here. Not now.

"Move you're in my way!" A mysterious voice shouted as Ivan and Richter felt themselves thrown to the side. A cloaked figure rushed past them as they reached for a sword at their side. There was a momentary flash of light before a shockwave tore through the field of enemies. Within the cloaked figures hand was a long curved blade that they had never seen before. It was like a katana from the days of the samurai. There was another flash as the figure slashed through another. Then another. And another. One by one the figure cut down its adversaries one after the other.

"Who is he?" Ivan asked with a raised brown. "He's cool."

As Ivan's words left his lips they all realized that the enemy units were slowly disappearing as if they were normal characters. The new cloaked figures attacks could hurt them.

"Eat lead!" With the immediate range around him clear the figure traded his sword for a heavy machine gun. He revved the guns engine before unleashing a hailstorm of bullets upon the enemy units.

"Those weapons…I've never seen them before" Misha stammered as she struggled to her feet. She had played S4 the longest among them and never had she encountered such weapons. And the raw power they held. Something was different about this man.

"Hey, I could use a little back up!" The cloaked man said as danced among the hellfire of bullets striking down any foe he came near with his blade. There was something strange in the way he spoke. His voice was suspiciously calm, as if this battle was one he'd experienced several times.

"Our attacks don't affect them!" Richter shouted. "How are we supposed to fight if we can't hurt them?"

"Use these!" The man calmly spoke as he tossed three orbs towards the trio.

The orbs sailed through the air before landing on the pavement and rolling to a stop at each of their feet. Misha reached down and picked up one of the orbs but just as soon as she touched it there was a flash of light as the orb dissolved into bars of light before flowing into Misha's character. "W-what the heck was that?"

"Draw your weapon!" The cloaked man shouted as he continued to fight of the horde of figures.

Misha could only nod as she drew her sub-machine guns, not wanting to make the mistake of getting close again. "What?" Misha examined her guns. They were clearly different. Their normal black and white design was replaced with a pure white body and sky blue trimming. "What did you do to my guns?" Misha stamped her foot. She felt violated that the weapons she had held onto for so long, that got her through many battles, were tampered with.

"I made them better." The figure simply said.

Misha gritted her teeth. Better? How could that be possible? However, she decided to take the man's words for it. She raised her guns and took aim before firing a barrage towards the enemy units. One by one she watched them fall before disappearing. "I…I did it."

Richter and Ivan exchanged looks and nodded before picking up their own respective orbs. The same flash of light happened as with Misha and they too noticed that their own respective weapons had changed. Ivan's once yellow and white semi-rifle had turned black and gold just as how Richter's once silver hand gun was now all blue.

"Now that you guys are ready; show me, your S4!" The cloaked man shouted. A smirk appeared on each of their faces as they charged into battle. They leapt and bounded across the highway as they fired upon their enemies. The battle was a flurry of movement and a hailstorm of bullets. Soon the final enemy had fallen the highway safe once again.

"Glad that's over." The cloaked figured let out a sigh of relief before he knelt down.

"Just who are you?" Misha asked as she stepped forward.

"Not now." The man said as he raised a hand.

"How rude of you!" Misha stamped her foot as she roughly grabbed the man by his neck. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No. I do not." The man stared back at her from under his hood. She couldn't see his face but she could see his eyes. Dark, piercing yellow eyes glared back at her. For some reason they reminded her of…iron. "And nor do I care." He simply said as he roughly shoved her away.

"Hey watch it!" Ritcher said as he clinched a fist.

"Do you think you can stop me?" The cloaked man said as he knelt down once again.

"What?"

"Do you think you can stop me?" The man repeated himself. "After what you just saw, do you think you have a chance?"

"Why you?"

"Calm down Richter!" Ivan said as he steadied his friend's fist. "What are you doing?"

The man reminded silent for a moments before a petite yellow figure appeared in front of him, a fumbi. "This isn't over. We have one more thing to take care of."

"And why should we go with you?" Misha demanded.

"Yeah." Richter chimed in. "We don't even know who you are! Not to mention all the weird things you're doing."

There were several things strange about this character besides his peculiar arsenal of weaponry. Even if the cloaked figure didn't introduce himself he would still be recognized by a name, yet no name floated over his head.

"Personally I don't care what you do." The cloaked figure spoke. There was a severe hint of smugness in his voice. "However, I do know that with your assistance it will be much easier to get you three back to normal."

Richter and Misha both swallowed. The man was right. He clearly knew more about this situation then they did.

"Now come along if you want to leave." The man said as he hoisted the fumbi onto his shoulder and began to walk along the stretch of highway opposite the direction the dark army was headed.

"Can you at least tell us who you are?" Ivan pondered. "Or at least why do you know all of these things?"

The man let out a sigh as he looked over his shoulder. "Sorry, but personal reasons prevent me from answering those questions." The man began to walk once more. "Now hurry if you wish to leave anytime soon."

The trio frowned but they quietly followed the mysterious individual along the stretch of highway. It was completely empty as nothing needed to be rendered as this was a non-play area, but it made the trio wonder why it was still here. They encountered random groups those black minions here and there but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Soon they found themselves in a very familiar area, Neden-3.

"I never knew that the highway was connected to Neden-3." Richter said in awe as they entered the dark neighborhood.

"Most people don't." The mysterious man spoke again. "Most players will only see each area as an individual space because they aren't aware that many of the older areas were in fact a larger single battlefield."

"But I've played S4 since the beginning and I don't remember it ever being like that." Misha argued.

"That's because you've only played since the beginning of S4." The man said calmly.

"So what are you talking about?" Misha was frustrated. The way this man spoke was too confusing. It was as if he talked in circles.

"You three should get ready." The man spoke calmly again as he drew his heavy machine gun. "It should be here soon."

They were about to ask exactly what did he mean by 'it' but their question was answered before they could even form the words. They could feel the ground rumbling beneath them. Something was coming, something that was bigger than what they had fought before. Then it appeared. Ripping through the roof of the building located in the center of Neden-3 was a gigantic variation of the black figures that they had encountered until now.

"Take this." The mysterious man said as he handed the fumbi to Misha. "It's an anti-virus"

"And what do you expect me to do with this?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Take it there." He replied simply as he pointed to the exposed interior of the building. Misha squinted her eyes and was just barely able to make out a balls spawning point in center.

"How the heck do you expect me to accomplish that?" Misha pointed to the huge figure that loomed in front of them.

"I've been doing it." There was a hint of smugness in his voice again. "Now let's go!" The man said as he rushed forward.

"Why you…" Misha stamped her foot as she gritted her teeth. She let out a sigh before rushing in after him, guns drawn. As if sensing the approaching threat of it being purged the giant being turned its head towards the advancing pair. "You two had better cover us!"

"Right!" Richter and Ivan said in unison as they moved forward.

Misha made a bee-line for the building way only to find a boot crash down in front of her. Timing it right she hopped onto the giant's leg before flipping away as she fired bullets at its head. The giant swiped its arm narrowly missing the annoyance before him.

"Hey big guy, over here!" The cloaked man shouted as he unleashed a maelstrom of bullets from his heavy gun to catch its attention. Giving into the man's taunts the giant through its mighty fist but with swift and honed reflexes he hopped onto the incoming fist and ran up its arm. Reaching its face the cloaked man drew his katana and in one swift motion left a large gash within its helmet.

"Wow he's pretty good." Ivan said as he watched the man evade the giant's attacks with ease.

"Don't lose focus!" Richter shouted as he narrowly pulled Ivan from beneath foot that had threatened to crush him. "You need to make sure you cover Misha!"

"I know sheez!"Ivan sighed. He didn't really have to. She had enough experience to handle her own. He watched as she skillfully evaded the giant's attack while still trying to make for the destroyed buildings entrance way. No matter how often she tried the giant would always cut her off and start the routine all over again. They were literally getting nowhere. As long as that giant was there they never had a chance. If they could only stagger it for a single moment then they could win. They needed to hit it harder. Harder?

Keeping his gun trained on the giant Ivan slowly made his way over towards their mysterious friend. "Hey, hacker guy I have a question!"

"What makes you assume I'm some hacker?" The man stated, never turning to face Ivan's character.

"It somewhat obvious with all the things you've done." Ivan reasoned. Frankly speaking, his logic was infallible. The rewriting of weapons statistics, spawning fumbi, hiding of his character's name and other subtleties here and there.

"Fine." The 'hacker'sighed. "What do you want?"

With a smirk Ivan put away his semi-rifle and replaced it with his CS. "How hard do you think you can make this hit?"

The mysterious man looked from Ivan's serious features to the tightly clenched before turning back to Ivan. He could see the unwavering confidence in Ivan's eyes. "You, I like." The man said as he tried to fight back a smirk beneath his hood.

"Ivan what the heck are you doing?" Misha shouted. "We need back up."

"Yeah!" Richter chimed in. "Stop fooling around."

For a brief moment there was silence. The heard no response from their dear friend Ivan or their mysterious companion. Then suddenly there was a might roar as their cloaked friend darted out his heavy machine gun drawn. He concentrated every round on his target as he slowly made his way toward Misha.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Borrowing this!" He said with a laugh as he stole the fumbi from her possession. "Hey big guy, over here!" He mocking waved at the giant before he rushed of into his taunts and wanting to destroy the dreaded fumbi that had the potential to destroy him the giant set its sights on the cloaked man. "That's right take the bait." The man said under his breath as he slowly drew the monster away from the place it guarded.

The beast raised its gigantic fist and threw it with all of its might.

"I've got you now." The cloaked man smirked as he triangle jumped off a wall, the fist narrowly missing him by a hairsbreadth. Once again he ran up the length of the giants arm. But this time he didn't advance to strike his opponent. Instead he jumped into of the gigantic figure, tossing the fumbi high into the air. "Go now!"

The giants gaze followed the fumbi. He tried to reach for it. He tried to grasp it. Grip it. Crush it. Destroy it. Yet, it was just out of reach. The thing which he coveted was just beyond his fingertips. But something else was there. Next to the fumbi, on wings of azure, something else filled the skies. With a mighty roar the winged figure lurched forward and sped towards the giant, it was Ivan. He zoomed toward the giant at breakneck speeds. He raised his fist, only now with was more like a dark claw, a claw that shed black wings with each move he made. One last roar from Ivan could be heard from Ivan as she crashed into the giant before a huge wave of blue energy erupted from the giant's body. "Score while he's down!"

Misha didn't need to be told twice. She rushed forward and with a series of acrobatic flips swiped the fumbi from the air, made her way into the dilapidated building and placed the fumbi on its alter. "Touchdown." She said with a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

Misha could only watch as the fumbi was rapidly dissolved into the platform before a pillar of light erupted from the base. "W-what is this?" But before she could answer she vanished into the column of light.

"Misha? What is it?" Richter shouted but he too was soon devoured. It was probably them simply returning to the real world now that the virus was gone and the area purified.

"Well this job is over." The cloaked man said as he stretched his arms with a yawn. "Guess I'll leave then."

"Wait!" Ivan shouted as the ominous light threatened to engulf him. "You still haven't told us who you are!"

The man sighed once again. "I've told you before I don't really have a name." The man chuckled before he reached up to remove his hood. Ivan could almost make out his features and like everything else about him they seemed weird. Or in this case a little too real. "But lately people have been calling me G."

And with that Ivan and company was gone and back into the physical world. The entire incident was blamed on a simple computer malfunction. They would probably never encounter the mysterious man again. They would only have their memories to serve as a reminder of that day. Their memories and their S4 identity cards which were all somehow converted to the rank of S4. However something was still different about them. Tucked away in a tiny corner where no one could see was a tiny 'G' only visible to those who knew it was there.

~END~

Sorry this went on for so long. AND sorry to fans of mine who have been waiting for OTHER updates. It's just that lately I've been wondering who the mysterious Hacker G was. So I did a little research. Finding little to nothing I decided to give him a story or at least add to the mystery. Well until next time! SHOW ME YOUR S4!


End file.
